Meta Monday – Diversity

On last week’s Meta Monday, we analyzed what appeared to be an Alessi driven metagame, and the ramifications of the balance patch. Fast forward to this week, and 0 copies of Alessi broke into this week’s ETS top 8. Today, I’ll be breaking down this weeks top 8, trends and what to expect in the upcoming metagame.

One of the game’s very best, Childroland, took down these week’s ETS with a interesting take on Elysian Midrange. This list features many interesting choices including: 3 copies of Unseal, 2 Channel The Tempest and 4 copies of Hailstorm. These choice’s targeted a specific metagame, and clearly payed off. Although Elysian is something many have not seen for along time, I would expect to see more of it in the coming weeks as it has solid matchups into most of the field. Congratulations Childroland!

Krizalio picked up a second place finish this week, with Charge Rod. This list is more standard then list we’ve seen in previous weeks, but Charge Rod continues to put up results. Interestingly, Krizalio opted to play zero copies of Heart Of The Vault, and instead played four copies of Rizahn allowing him to have more ways to interact with more aggressively built decks. Overall, Charge Rod continues to be a strong choice in the current metagame, and I expect this deck to only become more popular in the coming weeks.

Sunyveil brought our only deck with 2 copies in the top 8, Praxis Tokens, to a top 4 finish. This version, brought the more popular Auralian Merchant as its merchant of choice, allowing for more consistent Xenan Obelisks and flyer hate. Praxis tokens continues to impress week after week and is slowing becoming the most dominate deck in the metagame. If you aren’t already playing Praxis Tokens, you might want to pick it up. This deck attacks from so many different angles, and until Hailstorm becomes more popular I do not expect this deck to stop performing.

Thedamn brought their version of Rakano Valkries to a top 4 finish this week. Interestingly, they brought 2 copies of Scale seeker; A card we have not seen almost any of sense the release of The Fall of Argenport. Although many have underestimated Rakano Valkyries we continue to see it make a push into our top 8 week after week, and this trend will likely continue.

Dderk brought a new innovation to his top 8 Skycrag Aggro list, in Longbarrel. This innovation allows Skycrag Aggro to push through even more damage, and snowball even harder in aggressive matchups. I’ve tested Longbarrel myself, and can confirm that this card has earned a spot in Skycrag Aggro in the right metagame. Dderk also brought Ixtun Merchant to give himself more late game options, and a payoff for going wide in Rally. This list was well thought out, and is a very strong way to build Skycrag going forward.

lllserbll brought a relatively new deck to this top 8, TPS Control. This deck has many familiar cards you’d see in Feln Control, with a splash for Vara’s choice, Banish, Ayan and Auralian Merchant. These cards help sure up some of Feln Control’s tough matchups, and allow it to take a more aggressive approach if needed. Overall I definitely like this deck more then Feln Control, and could see it playing a role in our metagame for weeks to come.

Trumpets brought Icaria Blue yet another top 8 this week. This list featured some unusual cards such as lightning strike and unstable form, I suspect these were for the expected Alessi heavy metagame. Icaria Blue continues to surprise me, as I claim it is a weaker version of removal pile, but these results seem to differ. I think Icaria blue is slowly becoming a deck in many people’s eyes, and will likely continue to put up impressive results if the metagame doesn’t heavily shift.

Rounding out our top 8, IamMonstrum, the newest member of Team Rankstar, took our second copy of Praxis Tokens into the top 8. This time, sporting 2 Censari Brigands and Ixtun Merchants to field a more aggressive build and market for Praxis Tokens. This build allowed IamMonstrum to snowball games even harder, and showing another side of the tokens deck, prove that even Praxis Tokens still can be more refined.

This metagame continues to shift, but we are starting to see many familiar decks making top 8’s: Praxis Tokens, Icaria blue and Rakano Valkyries consistently stand out. I’m excited to see what will emerge next week! That’s a wrap for this week’s Meta Monday! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. You can often catch me streaming at http://www.twitch.tv/notoriousghp. Until next time, Keep brewing!